'I have exited at least six WhatsApp groups because I am tired of your bhakts who impose their views on your behalf.' 'Why can't I have a healthy discussion about my nation's future without being called deshdrohi?' asks Divya Nair.
Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari puts them out of the ambit of Motor Vehicles Act; experts say some regulation, licensing and driver training will be necessary
There is no denying that the Deepa identity has overnight caught the people's imagination across the state. But converting that into an imagery and from there as support and vote-base is a different matter altogether, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Even if they score administratively, state governments ruled by the party suffer from an inability to communicate positively, say observers.
Sunday's results may be a bitter pill that the Congress has to swallow -- that its future cannot be hitched to Rahul unless he can resonate with the people, feels Saroj Nagi.
'Even if Akhilesh Yadav opens up the entire state treasury for us we will not vote for the Samajwadi Party... ''...I don't want to return to my village, my head will be chopped off. They want me to press the button on the lotus.' Caught between an aggressive BSP cornering Dalit votes and the BJP cornering other Hindu votes, the Muslims of Muzaffarnagar have nowhere to go, no one to turn to. Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt presents the grim situation on the ground in western Uttar Pradesh.
It is regrettable that the IB has tried to devalue the expertise available both within the concerned ministry and in the scientific community by its allegations. Governments and NGOs in many western nations have not been accused of being 'anti-national' when they put their foot down on questionable practices by cash rich agri-business companies, says Rashme Sehgal.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley faces a tough electoral battle in his maiden bid to enter Lok Sabha from Amritsar but is unfazed by his "reluctant" heavyweight opponent Capt Amarinder Singh as he claims the groundswell against Congress "adds to my confidence".
'While Television generally tends to Clarity,' says Sreehari Nair, 'Arnab Goswami's The Newshour Debate portrays our confusions. Each episode offers both the potency of an intensely-fought boxing match and the giddy pleasures of an orgy.'
The RSS realises that with a majority BJP government at the Centre and in several states, now was the best time to undermine and perhaps outdo the Congress-Left 'stranglehold' over campuses and young minds.
'Hindus are proud of what the Dharmashastras symbolise, but they don't want to do any work to preserve it!,' Sanskrit scholar Donald Davis tells Kanika Dutta.
Sonia Gandhi alleged it was a mockery of the consensus building exercise by a "myopic" Modi government which was "bending backwards" to favour industrialists.0
Delhi's inability to open up a new canvas with Pakistan and Sharif is symptomatic of its sluggish thinking. Jyoti Malhotra analyses
A profile of Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot.
'She was the only prime minister who won a decisive military victory.' 'She won a real war; she didn't play video games on prime time TV over surgical strikes!' 'She understood power better than any other politician, saw it as her birthright and used it with inborn expertise.' 'Every politician today who tries to be a "supremo" through populism and absolute control over his or her party is referring to the Indira Gandhi playbook!'
'Reflex responses to Dalit student Rohith Vemula's suicide are band aids that stem the current hemorrhage but do precious little to the festering wound beneath,' says Vivek Gumaste.
Prashant Kishor, the man who led Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar to victory, has his task cut out for him as he tries to secure victory for the Congress in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh
The prime minister has followed a dual strategy. He is invoking Gandhi to project himself as a statesman and yet, because he is essentially a politician, he has to take the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh along as well
Separatists and their wide network must be neutralized for peace in the Valley
What got the Jats of Haryana so furious?
Top Aam Aadmi Party leaders Shazia Ilmi and Captain Gopinath resign.
A raise in the I-T exemption limit has been sought by many.
'Voting also involves communal factors, caste factors and so on, but increasingly, the caste factor is making less and less sense to the Indian voter,' says journalist and author Manu Joseph.
There are indications that India may be shedding its Stockholm Syndrome vis-a-vis the Modi government, says Bharat Bhushan.
A look at few gurus who have attracted controversy in recent times.
'While I am personally pained at the raids on Dr Roy's home, I want to ask five questions of those crying themselves hoarse over the attack on the "freedom of the press",' says Sudhir Bisht.
Not just Tesco, Auchan, Walmart, even Biyani & Reliance keen on food FDI: Harsimrat Kaur Badal
ISB professor Krishnamurthy Subramanian tells Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com that Modi government's continuation of tax terrorism is driving away investors.
To unravel Khan's overseas business, one has to rewind to 10 years ago when Londoner Richard James Moore floated a real estate company called Winford Estates in Surrey.
Storming the capital with a whirlwind campaign, Narendra Modi on Saturday attacked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram and alleged that they have ruined the country with their "bookish knowledge".
The advent of technology, the widespread use of smart phones across the country and the increasing popularity of the social media has caused the mushrooming of media platforms and led to the gradual disintermediation of the mainstream traditional media. The BJP leadership has only caught on to this trend quite fast and has used it to counter the influence of the mainstream media, says A K Bhattacharya.
It is time to take the sainthood away from Dr Manmohan Singh, says Sudhir Bisht.
Rediff readers share their Cash Crisis experiences.
Haryana on Wednesday honoured its 'daughter' Sakshi Malik by appointing her as brand ambassador of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's flagship 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' campaign and presenting the Olympic bronze medallist a cheque of Rs 2.5 crore.
Happy at the clear mandate given by voters to the BJP-led NDA, India Inc on Friday exuded confidence that Narendra Modi will initiate bold and decisive policy reforms to promote economic growth.
There is indeed a Bengal Model but it is one which negates generational aspiration, generates animus, thrives on bloodletting and political vendetta, reiterates outdated ideas of vote bank politics, is shorn of any vision or roadmap for reconstruction and is fast depleting the levels of a legitimate tolerance, says Dr Anirban Ganguly.
Banerjee has fulfilled two key electoral promises: Ridding Lalgarh of Naxals and bringing peace to Darjeeling
'Modi's promise of change during the election campaign was on the domestic front, but his first year in office focused on foreign policy beyond all expectations,' says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Former Miss India and actor Gul Panag on Thursday joined the Aam Aadmi Party and will be its candidate for Lok Sabha polls from Chandigarh, a place where she was born and describes as her "family's home".
'We have Hindu values, Hindu customs, Hindu philosophy, Hindu way of looking at all religions as acceptable.' 'These are all great assets of India.'
